Private John Burns Purves, 1st Garrison Battalion, Royal Scots, He was lost at sea, aged 24, on the 20th July 1918. He had been born in Cranshaws and was the son of James and the late Agnes Burns of Auchencrow Mains and Heughhead, Reston. He had been employed as a ploughman at Kelloe Mains, Edrom when he enlisted in the 3rd/4th ( Reserve ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers in November 1916. He was transferred to the 1st/4th K.O.S.B. and joined them in Egypt in January 1916. There he contracted diphtheria and was hospitalised for some time in Alexandria, Egypt. Upon recovery he was posted to the Royal Scots and sailed to join his Battalion on Cyprus. His ship however the transport S.S. ” Kosseir” was torpedoed and sunk by UB51 with the loss of 39 lives. He is commemorated on the Doiran Memorial, Greece.
